2007-10-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

Purpose of the Study

The first purpose of this study is to measure the effectiveness of using oral reading, compared with silent reading, as a reading method to improve ESL students’ reading comprehension when they read in English. While oral reading is widely used in ESL classes, the effectiveness of using oral reading to improve ESL students’ reading comprehension is required to be examined.

The second purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between students’ first languages and their reading comprehension when they read passages aloud and silently in English. In ESL classes, students’ language backgrounds may differ. When ESL students use both oral and silent reading in English learning, it is important to know the impact of ESL students’ different first language backgrounds on their reading comprehension.

Research Questions

Through this descriptive study, the following questions will be addressed to determine the effectiveness of using oral reading in ESL classes:

1. After reading a passage aloud, will ESL students’ reading comprehension improve, compared with using read silently?

2. Will ESL students’ first languages affect their reading comprehension when they use oral reading in English?

3. Will ESL students’ first languages affect their reading comprehension when they use silent reading in English?

2007-09-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

The purpose of my study:

Oral reading, opposed to silent reading, is frequently used in both monolingual and multilingual classrooms. However, the effectiveness of using oral reading to improve students’ reading comprehension is being debated in monolingual classrooms, and only a few studies have been done in the multilingual classroom. In the monolingual settings, some research studies (Armbruster & Wilkinson, 1991; Bernhardt, 1983; Davis, 1981; Leinhardt, Zigmond, & Cooley, 1981; Miller & Smith, 1985; Wilkinson & Anderson, 1995) indicated that older children and adults, who are average or strong readers, comprehend better after reading silently, but some studies (McCallum, Sharp, Bell, & George, 2004; Prior & Welling, 2001) stated that the comprehension scores do not differ significantly between the two modes. In the multilingual learning situations, only few researches conducted about the use of oral reading on students’ reading comprehension. A result shows that a positive correlation of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ understanding of the passage might be occurred when they fluently read a passage aloud (Saiegh-Haddad, 2003). However, the comparison of using oral and silent reading to improve EFL learners’ reading comprehension still lacks of findings.

My research questions:

Through this descriptive, mixed-methods study, the following questions will be addressed:

–What are the differences of using oral reading and silent reading to improve EFL students’ reading comprehension?

- Will the first language affect students’ reading comprehension when they use oral reading and silent reading?

Definition:

- ESL Students: Students (mostly immigrants and minority groups) who are learning English as a second language.

- EFL Students: Students who are learning English as a foreign language.

- Oral Reading: Read a passage aloud.

- Silent Reading: Read a passage in one’s mind.

(Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992)

Reference

Armbruster, B. B., & Wilkinson, A. G. (1991). Silent reading, oral reading, and learning from text. The Reading Teacher, 45, 145-146.

Bernhardt, E. B. (1983). Three approaches to reading comprehension in intermediate German. The Modern Language Journal, 67, 111-115.

McCallum, R. S., Sharp, S., Bell, S. M., & George, T. (2004). Silent versus oral reading comprehension and efficiency. Psychology in the Schools, 41(2), 241-246.

Davis, Z. T. (1981). A comparison of the effectiveness of sustained silent reading and directed reading activity on student's reading achievement. The High School Journal, 72, 46-48.

Leinhardt, G., Zigmond, N., & Cooley, W. W. (1981). Reading instruction and its effects. American Educational Research Journal, 18, 343-361.

Miller, S. D., & Smith, D. E. P. (1985). Differences in literal and inferential comprehension after reading orally and silently. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(3), 341-348.

Prior, S. M., & Welling, K. A. (2001). "Read in your head": A Vygotskian analysis of the transition from oral to silent reading. Reading Psychology, 22(1), 1-15

Richards, J. C., Platt, J., & Platt, H. (1992). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, UK: Pearson Education North Asia Limited.

Saiegh-Haddad, E. (2003). Bilingual oral reading fluency and reading comprehension: The case of Arabic/Hebrew (L1) -English (L2) readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 16, 717-736.

Wilkinson, I. A. G., & Anderson, R. C. (1995). Sociocognitive processes in guided silent reading: A microanalysis of small-group lessons. Reading Research Quarterly, 30(4), 710-740.

Yachi's Work House

2007-09-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog.
This is a new blog for Edu 709.

And, the following is my other blog not so acdemic based.
http://blog.roodo.com/ychi999/

Yachi_USF 709

Yachi's Work House